Survey says 90% of people want their next phone to have a larger screen

When Google announced the Samsung Galaxy Nexus back in October of last year we were taken aback by their decision to equip it with a 4.65 inch display. Then last month at Mobile World Congress we saw HTC announce the 4.7 inch One X and LG announce the 4.7 inch Optimus 4X HD. This is (sadly?) the new normal, so we hope you have larger pockets. But do folks actually want their next smartphone to have a larger display? According to a recent study done by the guys at Strategy Analytics, the answer is a resounding yes:

“Almost 90 percent of existing smartphone owners surveyed chose a prototype smartphone with a display larger than their current device,” commented Paul Brown, a Director in the Strategy Analytics User Experience Practice. “This trend is driven by increased mobile web browsing capability, as well as engaging video and gaming experiences.”

They discovered that the “sweet spot” is a device with a display that’s between 4.0 and 4.5 inches diagonal. That echos our own observations since we find that the Samsung Galaxy Nexus S, which has a 4 inch screen, is perfectly sized. One should also note that the Nokia N9, which has the exact same dimensions as the Lumia 800, shipped with a 3.9 inch display. That too was amazing.

This brings up an important question: How big will the sixth generation iPhone be? It’s kind of ridiculous when you think about it, that for half a decade Apple has stuck to the 3.5 inch form factor. That’s more than an inch smaller than most of the superphones that are going to come out over the next few months. Hell, it’s almost 2 inches smaller than the Samsung Galaxy Note!

With a larger screen you do get the added benefit of being able to put a larger battery inside a device. We hope manufacturers learn something from the Motorola RAZR Maxx, which has a ludicrous 3,300 mAh battery, yet still manages to be less than 9 mm thick, and it has a 4.3 inch screen to boot!

For many people it seems to depend on what they want to use their cell phone for. A lot of gamers probably prefer the larger screens. Most iPhone users seem to be able to sacrifice the screen size in order to continue using iPhone/iOS. It would be unfortunate, though, if Apple still does not increase the next generation iPhone’s screen size to measure up to its competitors.

Anonymous

So, people want largeER screens! Larger than what? What if these people all have palm pixies..?